


A Rain of Feathers

by Settiai



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Community: femslashex, Dreams, F/F, One Shot, Podfic Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-24 02:46:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8353882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: In one world, a man knelt beside the body of his sister and offered himself to a goddess. This is not that world.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elleskinner](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elleskinner/gifts).



Vex'ahlia dreamed of feathers falling from the sky, as black as night and as dark as the unending emptiness of death itself. Blood dripped from her hands. It might have been hers. Once upon a time, it could have been hers.

She knew that it wasn't hers, not in her dreams. Not this time. Not here, and not now.

Vex closed her eyes, and the vision didn't change. It wasn't something she was seeing with her eyes, after all. Not really. She watched as the feathers continued to fall.

It was a dream. She should have known better than to expect anything different.

This was her life now. She had been given an offer, and she had accepted it. She had made a deal.

And Vex took deals very seriously.

*

"I'm sorry."

Vax repeated the words time and time again, and she knew every time that he didn't mean them. He regretted what had happened. He blamed himself for drawing the Raven Queen's attention to them, for putting Vex into Her sights. He wished that it had been him who She had chosen for Her champion rather than his sister.

But he wasn't sorry that the deal had been made, no matter which one of them had paid the price.

Vex couldn't blame him. If she had been in his place, she would have done the same. Anything was better than the alternative, to the two of them being separated by walls that could never be torn down. She had taken a step down a path that he couldn't follow, and it was pure luck that she had been given the chance to turn back.

It could have been forever.

Her brother was selfish. But, then again, so was she.

*

When Vex closed her eyes, she dreamed of flying.

It wasn't unexpected. The idea of flight had always been freeing, and she spent her days flying through the air now thanks to her broom. It made sense for that to carry from the waking world into the unwaking one.

But in her dreams, there was no broom between her legs. There was no carpet under her body. She was not clinging to a giant eagle, trying not to fall, or desperately hoping that a potion would last just a little longer as she walked on air.

No, in her dreams, she flew on wings of her very own. Black and glossy, like the feathers that still fell around her.

In her dreams, she was free.

*

Percy didn't ask for her forgiveness, not in as many words, but she gave it to him over and over again. He didn't take it, not that she had expected him to do so.

Still, Vex had to offer. There wasn't room for blame in her life, not any longer.

Not for anyone, not even someone who clung desperately to the idea that he was beyond anyone's mercy. Even her own.

"I wouldn't change a thing, darling," Vex said, pressing a kiss against his cheek as she took yet another arrow that he had made for her. "I'm perfectly content with how things went."

It surprised her when she realized that the words were true.

*

Vex never expected Death to be beautiful.

It made sense, in a way, once she had time to think about it. The Raven Queen was a goddess, after all, and everyone knew that the gods held a beauty of Their own.

Like so many things that had happened to her over the past few months, it still caught Vex by surprise.

Pale skin and dark hair, with lips as red as blood. That's what Vex saw when she closed her eyes. Ageless and eternal, with the silhouette of black wings spreading out behind.

Beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Like life itself. And like death. That was the mystery, one that Vex was slowly starting to understand.

"You are My champion," the Raven Queen said, her hands as cold as ice as they brushed Vex's cheek. She shivered, but it wasn't entirely from the cold. "You are My hands."

Vex bowed her head. "I know."

*

Stepping into the Raven Queen's temple felt right in a way that Vex had never felt before. It was as if she belonged there.

It felt like home.

Vex closed her eyes and listened for a moment. There were sounds all around her, the quiet murmur of voices and the gentle whistle of the wind blowing through the open door behind her.

For a moment, she thought she felt lips pressing against her cheek. A light caress, barely there, but noticeable all the same.

She smiled.

*

Vex dreamed. She dreamed and she dreamed and she dreamed, and sometimes she wished that would never wake up.

But only sometimes. Her selfishness had a limit, after all, and she was well aware that there were those who would mourn her. More than she had ever expected there to be, if she was honest.

Lips pressed against hers, as cold as ice and yet burning like fire at the same time. Black wings enveloped them, hiding them from the outside and leaving them in a world of their own.

"You are Mine," a voice whispered close to her ear, ancient yet not at the same time. "My champion. My hands."

Vex simply smiled. "I am," she agreed. "I'm yours. You have my life."

Cold hands rested on her bare chest, pressed against her heart. Dark hair felt down around them as their lips pressed together, as life met death.

Vex didn't have to say what else belonged to Her. Her hands literally rested over it.

*

Life went on. Life always went on.

There were vestiges to find and dragons to fight, close calls and losses that made Vex's heart ache. They fell down, and they picked themselves back up. And if there were a few more cracks in the glue that held her family together, well, at least they were aware of them.

"Are you happy?" Vax asked her, his cheeks red from wine. His words were light, but there was something dark in his eyes.

Vex pressed a kiss against his cheek, and his skin felt warm against the coolness of her lips. "Of course, brother," she said. "I have everything that I could possibly want."

**Author's Note:**

> Find me over on Tumblr. (http://settiai.tumblr.com/)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] A Rain of Feathers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10028855) by [argentumlupine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/argentumlupine/pseuds/argentumlupine)




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